How can we obtain success on this trade? It was the query I contemplated 20 years in the past after I got down to take my profession to the subsequent degree and attain what few have: the Cisco Licensed Internetwork Professional (CCIE) certification.
Now main the CCIE program as Cisco’s Director of Certifications, I’ve skilled firsthand the revolutionary affect of this program on my friends and the trade.
This yr, we have fun the 30-year anniversary of the CCIE certification. Let’s look again at the place we got here from—and the way far we’ve come.
Temporary Historical past of the CCIE Program
- 1990: Networkers Customers Symposiums launches: As networking booms with new ranges of connection and extra challenges in connectivity, we launch Networkers Customers Symposiums – also called “Networkers.” The convention, later renamed Cisco Stay, allows clients to be taught, collaborate, and develop the trade collectively.
- 1993: CCIE launch: Cisco introduced the CCIE program publicly on September 27, 1993, when then-CEO John Chambers was quoted, “The CCIE program begins the place different distributors’ certification applications go away off.”
- Enjoyable reality: The unique title of this system was going to be “Cisco Prime Gun.” Nonetheless, the well-known Tom Cruise film by the identical title had simply been launched. We figured there could also be some authorized points in utilizing that title… so as an alternative, we selected “Cisco Licensed Internetwork Professional.”
- 1993: First CCIE Award: The CCIE program selected to start out its numbering system with 1024 (2 to the ability of 10). That quantity went right into a plaque on the CCIE lab itself in San Jose, CA, adopted by quantity 1025, awarded to the primary individual to earn the CCIE. And the remainder is historical past.
My CCIE Journey
My curiosity in changing into a CCIE began within the late 90s. Tech was very completely different from in the present day. The internet was evolving, and networking was a very new idea. I used to be on the lookout for a problem to advance my profession.
When researching the way to take my profession to the subsequent degree, I found Cisco, a fairly new tech firm on the time. Not solely did I discover a option to check my expertise with the CCIE program, however a window of alternative. The examination ensured perfection, and I favored the problem.
Changing into a CCIE opened profession developments for me. Not solely was I capable of obtain promotions with extra pay, however I additionally gained extra peer respect and recognition—as did my colleagues who obtained the certification. There’s a excessive degree of respect for individuals who obtain CCIE. You change into a part of an elite group.
Usually, worth is straight equal to the relevancy of a product. If the CCIE check was irrelevant to what I did in my job, I’d not have pursued it. And if it was not up to date to the expertise of in the present day, this system would fail. I’ve been a CCIE for 20+ years and may nonetheless apply my learnings from this system.
CCIE program is a real check of deep information and expertise, an endorsement (validation) of being an skilled – crème de la crème!
The CCIE Program’s Transformation Over Time
As expertise has developed, this system has modified considerably. Within the early days, the CCIE program was a two-day check, the place candidates spent the primary day establishing the {hardware} and initializing the pod with primary configurations. Then, candidates would come again for a second day to carry out extra superior configurations, spending the second half of the day troubleshooting situations.
At present’s CCIE program has been streamlined to a one-day check, eradicating the now trivial steps and focusing extra on community technique, structure, and the community lifecycle, together with planning and designing to satisfy buyer necessities. The improved lab examination is concentrated on the end-to-end community lifecycle from Day 0 (planning & designing), Day 1 (implementing and deploying), and Day 2 (working & sustaining), testing complete expertise throughout your entire spectrum of community options.
Beginning final yr, we launched Cisco Certification Roadmaps, an agile and iterative cadence-based mannequin to replace exams extra regularly and incrementally, maintaining them extra present and related, aligned with fast expertise evolution, and making certain relevancy for in the present day. The roadmap will present well timed and related info to maintain you forward of modifications being launched as you examine for the CCIE examination and all different Cisco certifications.
Be part of the CCIE Celebration
Be part of us in celebrating the 30th anniversary of this system and change into part of the #CCIE30 neighborhood!
In June, we kicked off celebrations at Cisco Stay in Las Vegas, however we will likely be celebrating all over the world all year long. Every CCIE lab web site will host “birthday” celebrations, bringing clients and staff collectively to share tales and talk about how the CCIE program modified their lives.
How Can You Turn out to be a CCIE?
This examination is about validating your expertise—within the discipline and in actual life.
Most individuals who fail lack expertise. I’d know. I failed beforehand, not resulting from lack of learning however as a result of I used to be nonetheless too new in my profession. As soon as I began truly doing the situations introduced within the examination in my job, my studying accelerated, and so did my CCIE prep. It was all about getting hands-on and working towards.
Even after getting ideally gained 5 to seven years of expertise, you continue to should put together. Changing into a CCIE is tough work, however we now have assets out there to you.
Whether or not you’re in your journey to changing into a CCIE or working towards advancing your profession on the whole, I go away you with this recommendation: Deal with pursuing excellence, and success will observe.
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